Orioles’ Deal With Tyler Colvin Falls Through

JAN. 24: Jon Heyman of CBS Sports tweets that Colvin's physical revealed that he still has back issues, causing the Orioles to reduce their offer from a Major League contract to a minor league deal. As such, Colvin will not sign and remains a free agent. Heyman points out that Colvin can now seek a big league deal with a club, knowing that he can sign a minor league pact with the O's as a fallback (Twitter link).

JAN. 22: A source tells ESPN.com's Jerry Crasnick (Twitter link) that the Orioles found an issue with Colvin's physical, which could be creating an obstacle to the deal.

JAN. 15: The Orioles have agreed to terms with free agent outfielder Tyler Colvin, reports Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun (Twitterlinks). Only a physical stands in the way of the deal, Connolly says, which is believed to be a guaranteed MLB contract. Colvin, 28, is represented by Relativity Baseball.

The left-handed swinging Colvin has seen MLB action in parts of five seasons. In 2012, his first year with the Rockies, Colvin posted a promising .290/.327/.531 triple-slash in 452 plate appearances. But he took a step back last year, earning only 78 MLB plate appearances and registering a meager .160/.192/.280 line in the process. He continued to hit at the Triple-A level, however, slashing .275/.377/.480 in 269 trips to the plate for Colorado Springs.

Colvin started his career with the Cubs before heading to Colorado in the Ian Stewarttrade. The 13th overall choice in the 2006 draft, Baseball America considered Colvin the game's 75th-best prospect after the 2007 season.

I would think no more than one of Borbon, Perry or Paul does. I don’t know that the choice among them is obvious.There are also RH OF Reimold and Pearce There not may be room for them if they keep Colvin and Young in addition to the three starting OF and Machado starts the season. . With Flaherty and Casilla as back-ups there would be room for 5 outfielders/DH types. Or if they keep Reimold, all three are probably gone

Looks like the other half to our DH platoon…Young/Reimold vs. LHP and Colvin/Urrutia against RHP…Could be worse, but I am excited to see how it shakes out during spring training. Only a few weeks to go!!!

The problem is that they might have more trouble signing free agents. If a FA is offered the same amount of money by the Orioles and another team, this kind of thing could very well tip the balance.
What player wants to take the risk of having everyone know he failed his physical & having to start finding another team again?

They were right about Aaron Sele, as he broke down in what would have been the third year of the four year contract they offered him. Would have been nice to have him for the first two years though.

They were right about Xavier Hernandez, who never pitched in MLB again after he failed his physical in Baltimore.

They were right about Jeromy Burnitz, who didn’t make it through a full season in Pittsburgh after his agent didn’t like the medical terms in the proposed contract.

They didn’t fail a notable player’s physical from 2007 through 2012, when they failed Jair Jurrjens, then restructured his contract. Jurrjens was healthy-ish during his time in Norfolk/Baltimore, but had a balky knee for most of the season.

They failed Balfour, and his health issues or non-issues remain to be seen.

They potentially failed Colvin, which shouldn’t come as a big surprise, considering how much time he missed last year.

So, yeah. I guess they do have an MO. For failing players who aren’t healthy enough to live up to their proposed contracts.

I read an estimate that about 1/3 of all pitchers in MLB have had, at some time in their careers, Tommy John surgery. Any player has the potential for getting hurt–look at Mauer, or Brian Roberts, who was ostensibly healthy when the O’s gave him his large contract. Stuff happens. The MO seems to be that the physical is an opportunity to decide a second time whether you want the player. I’m not saying that doesn’t work for the organization–what I’m saying is that from a player perspective, it might not be terribly wise to agree with the Orioles because you have two hurdles-the physical, and the possible cold feet.

It was a minor league deal anyway as corrected on the other story here. If he is taking a minor league deal chances are there was no real market for him anyway. Also to those saying the Orioles a failing due to second thoughts what would the purpose be if he was on a minor league deal anyway. They cut just cut him after spring training if they didn’t want him.

Any free agent would have to be nuts to consider the Orioles now. They seem to be in the business of trashing players market value. Perhaps they will be vindicated if Colvin and Balfour have physical issues this year, but for now…. I mean, I am pretty sure every player has physical issues if you look close enough.

This has been the worst Baltimore Orioles Offseason I can remember.
They are definitely on my list of 2014 Offseason losers this year.
And even putting it so bluntly is fair given how bad they have been with deals.

He was designated for assignment last year and nobody picked him up. If another team really believed his back was sound he would’ve landed somewhere. Does anyone really think he will get a major league contract? If the o’s should be bashed for anything it should be for signing so many fringe major league outfielders and going cheap on pitching.